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Sedgley loses its market, as today was last day of trading
Express & Star
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11/01/2025
We chat to traders and customers at Concord Market in Sedgley which after today is no more.
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
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00:00
So yeah, we're here with Nathan inside of Concord Mock, obviously it's the last day, how's the emotion so far?
00:07
A bit down at the minute, but not too bad. For myself personally, it's a bit positive because I'll be going to Royal Yule.
00:14
But the other traders have been a bit down at the minute.
00:17
Absolutely, yeah, it's a bit of a shame isn't it, because it's got such a long history behind it.
00:20
1970...
00:22
48 years I think.
00:23
Yeah, yeah, 48 years.
00:24
That's an amazing amount of time.
00:25
I know, yeah, I've been here four years now.
00:28
What's the general consensus from the other shopkeepers?
00:32
Jess is trying to find a shop to move into.
00:35
Donna on the pets is doing it online.
00:37
I know the bread stall, at the minute they're moving to the Spud Oven.
00:40
They're selling all the bread there.
00:43
It's quite nice seeing everyone coming together and helping out where they can,
00:46
out of pack and pour, trying to find new locations.
00:48
There was a bakery there in the way as well,
00:50
and said that they had moved to another shop there.
00:52
Temporarily moved to another shop in the town.
00:55
Which is fantastic, because everyone seems to be coming together.
00:57
Yeah, we're all trying to, yeah.
00:58
Ever since we've been coming together, we're trying to keep everybody supported.
01:00
Yeah, yeah, that's the way it's been for the past four years here.
01:04
Since Covid, it's been hard.
01:06
But I think it's hit every business hard.
01:08
Of course, yeah.
01:09
But we've all stayed together and tried to promote it as much as we could.
01:12
Of course, yeah.
01:13
So what's in the future for you then?
01:14
So you're moving to...
01:15
Brawley Old Market.
01:16
I'll be there doing the butchers there.
01:17
Yeah, absolutely.
01:18
How long have you been in the game for now?
01:20
I started when I was 17.
01:22
And I'm 36 now, so what's that?
01:25
18, 19 years, eh?
01:26
Yeah.
01:27
Quite well known in the market then, yourself.
01:30
Yeah, yeah.
01:31
Quite a few now.
01:33
It's a bit of a shame, but obviously it's nice that everyone supports each other.
01:37
That's it, yeah.
01:38
It's nice.
01:39
So I'm just going to stay positive.
01:42
So here with Glenn.
01:43
Glenn, you've been a shop here for 21 years, you say?
01:46
Glenn and Quinn.
01:47
Glenn and Quinn, yeah.
01:48
You've been here for a shop for 21 years, wasn't it?
01:49
Oh, for 21 years, yeah.
01:50
21 years, yeah, since you moved down here.
01:51
I mean, like, obviously it's a sad, sad day.
01:54
Yeah, yeah.
01:55
I do buy a lot of the secondhand books up east, which is for Raven's Rescue Charity.
01:59
And I like the proper meat off the butchers.
02:01
Absolutely, yeah.
02:02
I was sad to miss that since Seeding Fields closed down some years ago.
02:06
The other butchers.
02:07
So I'm a supermarket mate now.
02:09
Really?
02:10
Yeah.
02:11
I was going to say, what's the alternative now?
02:12
Is it the supermarkets?
02:13
Yeah.
02:14
I've been in the oldies all right.
02:15
Fortunately, we've killed it, but it was dying anyway.
02:17
The market.
02:19
It's a shame, isn't it?
02:20
Because you can go to the supermarkets, but you don't really get the opportunity to have
02:21
some face-to-face conversations that you do here with people.
02:22
No, exactly.
02:23
But there's a good friend, Registrar Lambert, but he couldn't afford to.
02:24
So that only lasted a few, about a year.
02:25
Do you think anything's caused it?
02:26
Online shopping, Covid?
02:27
I think it's the Brexit.
02:28
Yeah.
02:29
I saw it on the, I heard the radio interview.
02:30
Yeah.
02:31
Yeah.
02:32
Yeah.
02:33
Yeah.
02:34
Yeah.
02:35
Yeah.
02:36
Yeah.
02:37
Yeah.
02:38
Yeah.
02:39
Yeah.
02:40
Yeah.
02:41
Yeah.
02:42
Yeah.
02:43
Yeah.
02:44
Yeah.
02:45
Yeah.
02:46
Yeah.
02:47
Yeah.
02:48
Yeah.
02:49
Yeah.
02:50
Yeah.
02:51
Yeah.
02:52
Yeah.
02:53
Yeah.
02:54
Yeah.
02:55
Well, I think that's the end anyway.
02:56
It's a bit of a shame, isn't it?
02:57
Hopefully, obviously we all hope that the stores in here can get moved into the high
03:00
streets or whatnot.
03:01
Yeah.
03:02
I mean, if some of these do go into the high streets, we could further these and further
03:06
it, but there's still going to be shopping here.
03:10
Yeah.
03:11
Yeah.
03:12
It's a bit of a shame, though, isn't it, honestly?
03:13
It's another one of these that have died.
03:14
Do you usually shop at the market?
03:15
Do you usually shop at indoor markets?
03:16
Yes, I prefer markets, yeah.
03:17
I think everybody does, you know, face-to-face kind of interaction.
03:21
A bit of a stroker as well.
03:22
Yeah.
03:23
A nice cop.
03:24
Oh, yeah.
03:26
It's a shame.
03:27
Nah, it's a real shame, isn't it?
03:29
Yeah, yeah.
03:30
When they move to other places, are you going to keep on free-putting them when they move
03:34
to, like, the high streets or...?
03:35
I don't know, yeah.
03:36
It'll be slow.
03:37
Yeah.
03:39
Righto.
03:46
So, we're here with Carla.
03:47
Carla, we're here in a...
03:48
What's the shop called again?
03:49
Ward's.
03:50
Ward's.
03:51
Ward's, yeah.
03:52
So, you're actually moving...
03:53
You said you're actually moving upstairs, aren't you?
03:55
Yes, we've got our custom-printed shop upstairs, so we're actually moving our uniform provision
03:59
up there as well, so that people can still come and try on.
04:03
We're an online business as well, so they can come and click and collect.
04:06
So, yeah, we're upstairs at the moment.
04:08
Yeah, fantastic.
04:09
So, just talk a little bit about the business that you said you started in an actual physical
04:12
store.
04:13
Is it three?
04:14
No, we were online first, just before COVID, actually, in 2020, as we were going into 2020.
04:20
And we actually found, as the business grew, and it's still growing at the moment as well,
04:25
we found that people like something tangible.
04:28
So, a lot of shopping has moved online, a lot of buyers' habits have changed through
04:33
COVID, but we found that, for us particularly, as I say, people like to come and try things
04:38
on.
04:39
They like to be able to just pop by and pick something up when they've got time to come
04:43
and collect it, and make sure they haven't got to waste time sending it back because
04:46
it's the wrong item, because it doesn't fit their child, and particularly for our custom-print
04:50
business as well.
04:51
So, we work with a lot of businesses, large and small, to provide their custom-print needs
04:56
through garments, brochures, anything you can think of that can be customised, really.
05:01
Absolutely.
05:02
Will there be any differences to, obviously, moving upstairs instead of being on the ground floor?
05:05
Yeah, yeah.
05:06
So, that's our difference at the moment.
05:08
As I say, we are still growing all the time, year on year, we take on more schools.
05:13
So, for us, it is a shame that this community is closing, moving away.
05:21
Obviously, Nathan moved over to Bryony Hill.
05:24
And so, it does feel like, after being from Sedgley, obviously, people see it as a milestone
05:30
of changing times and things.
05:33
So, from that respect, it is a shame.
05:36
And it is a shame, because it was a nice, affordable space for people to access the
05:40
high streets.
05:41
But for us, as I say, we're business as usual and moving on, moving forward.
05:46
Absolutely.
05:47
So, this is obviously the fated last day for a lot of the traders, isn't it?
05:50
I mean, what's the emotions been like?
05:53
I think it's a real mixed bag, really.
05:57
As I say, as I've just said, it is a shame that it's been here a long time.
06:03
A lot of fond memories of people through Sedgley coming through Concord Market, and especially
06:07
when they were at school and things like that.
06:09
So, a lot of generations have grown up with the market.
06:12
I think the problem with the people that wanted to relocate is just not having that affordable
06:19
high street space.
06:20
So, I think that's where the loss will occur, because there are no other places, premises
06:24
for them to move into at the moment.
06:26
So, obviously, I can feel their frustrations on that, because they haven't got anywhere
06:30
to physically move to.
06:31
It's not that they want to close down.
06:32
It's not that they're not successful businesses.
06:34
They are successful mobile businesses.
06:36
So, that's the frustration along those lines, I guess.
06:39
So, from that point of view, it is a shame to lose this facility.
06:43
It'd be nice if it could be reinvested in, become a bit of a community hub as well, perhaps.
06:48
That would be a great future for it.
06:52
There's a lot of rumours about high street brands moving in and things like that, which
06:56
is also great.
06:57
We've had the Aldi recently open just around the corner, and I think that's brought a lot
07:02
of people to Sedgley as well.
07:04
But it would be nice just to do something a little bit different with this space and
07:07
make it into more of a community hub.
07:08
Yeah, especially with somewhere that's been around for so long.
07:11
I mean, this is in the 1970s when it started, wasn't it?
07:14
So, it's been around for over 40 years.
07:16
So, turning something like this into a community space, I can imagine that being the general
07:21
Yeah, well, I mean, even down to some kind of craft village as well.
07:24
So, perhaps having smaller units where people can move in.
07:27
And as I say, just still preserving that accessible, affordable high street space.
07:33
Yeah, absolutely.
07:34
So, wards, you're moving upstairs?
07:35
We're moving upstairs, yeah.
07:36
And we're also online, yeah.
07:37
So, business as usual for our customers.
07:39
That's perfect.
07:40
Thank you very much.
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